The Zeckendorfs decided to play hardball. They separated the two halves of the building lobby and began demolishing the southern end.
Sukenik?s response? ?Oh, I love to watch construction.?
Jackhammers began pounding away for hours a day.
?I love the noise,? he said.
The Zeckendorfs served Sukenik with papers setting in motion the multiyear demolition-related eviction process they?d hoped to avoid.
?Finally, it had all come down to a simple question: Where?s the cash?? Will recalls. ?This is just a break-the-phone moment. We?ve got a 52,000-square-foot property with one tenant.?
The Zeckendorfs turned to a third lawyer who knew Rozenholc. ?And finally, we get a number, which is enough to break another phone.?
But at last they had a deal.
Fortunately, during Sukenik?s extended silence, they?d bought the Essex House condo, which set them back $2 million. They won?t reveal the additional sum they finally paid Sukenik; Will says only that it was ?by far the highest price ever paid to [relocate] a single tenant in the city of New York.?
It was $17 million, according to someone with knowledge of the transaction.
In return, Sukenik promised to pay the Zeckendorfs $1 a month in rent.
?As a joke,? Rozenholc, who got a third of the settlement, says he gave them a check for $120 for the first 10 years and added a clause to the final agreement requiring them to return a prorated amount if Sukenik died in that time.
